


Cotton Candy and Stormy Clouds

by kunoichineko



Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But He Can Make a Mean Cup Of Tea, Gen, Inaccurate Portrayal of Dorm Life, Inaccurate Portrayal of Idol Schools, Made Up Saotome Academy Facts and Schedules, Mentioned Reiji Kotobuki, Mostly Anime Complaint, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shinomiya Natsuki Can't Cook, no set plot, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28490433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kunoichineko/pseuds/kunoichineko
Summary: Saotome Academy is renowned for molding astounding idols and the composers who write songs for them. Akemi and Nobu are two composers with personalities as different as rain and sunshine but both have managed to make it into the prestigous academy to help make their dreams a reality. Making friends with some of the colourful other students there is a very nice bonus.
Relationships: Kurusu Shou | Kurusu Syo & Original Character(s), Original Character(s) & Original Character(s), STARISH (Uta no Prince-sama) & Original Character(s), Shinomiya Natsuki & Original Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Episode 1

Nobu stuffed his hands further into his jacket pockets. He absolutely hated this. He hated the chill burning at any part of his skin that wasn’t bundled up, which only happened to really be the area around his eyes thanks to the beanie, scarf, several layers of jackets, sweaters and pants as well as the gloves he wore. He hated the fact that his feet could feel the sting of the freezing temperatures even if he had a pair of his warmest boots and thickest socks on. He hated the tingly prickles he felt in his eyes from just keeping them open. What he wouldn’t give to be at home, warm and cozied up in as many blankets as he could find.

If this had been just about any other school-free winter day, he most probably would have already done just that. But today was special. He had made sure to mark the day down, set an alarm to set off the day before and put up as many post-it notes up as he could to make absolute sure he did not accidentally miss this.

Today was the entrance exam day for the Saotome Academy, one of best performing art schools in the country for upcoming idols and composers. Anyone dreaming to pursue either path would be stupid to pass up the chance at this, even if the acceptance rate was incredibly low. Still, better to have come and tried than not to have come at all, he reasoned. He let out a yawn, wondering why the heck they required to come for the exam a whole freaking hour before they even began. He sure hoped they didn’t expect them to keep to these crazy standards every lesson day.

“Hi!”

A voice to his side had him looking down to a girl that looked like she should still be in middle school. She was short, really short. Her hair, which was an almost white pale lilac and held up into two high space buns with all sorts of clips in it, reminded him of the snow that blinded him from how bright it was just moments ago. He doubted she was a middle schooler since there was an age requirement to take the entrance exam. Her clothes were just as bright as her hair, an amalgamation of pastels and soft colours that hurt his eyes just as much as her hair did. The shorts she was wearing made him wince, the leggings she was wearing under them barely doing anything to save him from the second handed chills he was feeling just from looking at her outfit that just seemed too… light for this kind of weather, despite the puffy jacket she had on

The girl spoke again, her back straightening, “You’re gonna try be a composer, too, right?” Huh, he definitely wasn’t expecting someone this eye catching not try aim to be an idol. Before he could even consider wanting to talk to this pastel aesthetic nightmare of a person, she was already speaking again, “Oh, wait, of course you are. Everyone on this floor is here for the composer entrance exam.” She let out a short laugh. Her hands ringed the strap that hung on her shoulder, the bag it was holding up just as blindingly bright as the rest of her. “Y’know, I’m pretty hyped up about this! Like, I haven’t really felt nervous yet but I’m just waiting for the anxiety bubble to pop but I just feel all… jittery!” From the way she continued to twist the strap of her bag and bounce slightly in place, he had half a mind to tell her he could clearly see that. “But that’s probably because this is Saotome Academy. _Saotome Academy._ Do you know who went here before?”

He half wondered if she was talking to him or just thinking out loud since she, once again, spoke before he could attempt an answer, her next words coming like she was speaking of some divine deity. “Kotobuki Reiji. _Kotobuki Reiji_! He’s an amazing idol that’s been in the biz since I was in diapers! Even if he’s been in for so long, he’s still just as amazing, no, even more amazing than five- ten- whatever many years ago! He’s the best!” she let out a soft sigh. He knew a bit about Reiji from a few of Hibiki’s spiels about Shining Agency’s idols and his own curious searching. He was a pretty great all-rounder idol, if he were honest but he didn’t pay too much attention to idol work to be the best judge of what qualified as a good or bad idol. “But you probably already knew about him! Who hasn’t? Anyway, uh, that’s probably why I’m not really nervous. Like, even if I don’t make it in, just being in the same building he was in is pretty freaking awesome!” She suddenly turned to face him, making him flinch at the sudden move, her expression firm and hands coming up as fists. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try to make it in! Sure seeing where he learnt from is nice but being able to _learn_ where he learnt and maybe even become a composer in the agency he works at and maybe even _write a song for him???_ That totally beats just visiting, that’s for sure!” She laughed again, all giggly and high pitched. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with all that information but good for her, he supposed.

The girl suddenly turned to him again, “What was your name again?”

Nobu’s eyebrows furrowed. When he realised she was actually giving him a chance to speak, he replied, his voice sounding more throaty than he expected it to, “I hadn’t even told you my name once.”

The girl blinked owlishly before she smiled in relief, “Oh thank goodness!” She grinned brightly and god dang it was everything about her supposed to be blindly bright, and placed a hand onto her chest, “My name is Fukuyo Akemi! But feel free to call me Akemi, or Ake-chan or Michan!” Of course she’d have ‘bright’ in her name. _Of course._

“Nobu. Kagemine Nobu,” he replied, and yep, his voice definitely sounded like he had a cold or something. Probably meant he might get one later. Great.

She looked in thought for a moment before a delighted smile formed on her face, “Nobu-kun, no, Bu-kun! Can I call you that, Bu-kun that is?” The nickname had the same number of syllables as his normal name and Nobu thought it made it pretty useless at being a nickname but shrugged regardless. The girl, uh, Akemi had just thrown a whole monologue about her dreams so did that qualify them as being friends? Or, close enough for nicknames?

Akemi’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the affirmation, “It’s nice to meet you, Bu-kun!”

“Same,” was the very charismatic thing he gave in reply.

Akemi seemed completely unbothered by the short reply as she began babbling on about her trip here and how pretty the snow looked and how she couldn’t wait to see what kind of special music assignments that the school could give them before deciding to throw all kinds of questions at him. “Hey, do you have an idol you like?” “What kind of music do you like best?” “What kinda stuff do you use for inspiration when you compose?” He didn’t exactly mind answering her questions, nor did he mind her not even giving him a moment to formulate an answer to a question before she was already moving onto a completely different one. He did being to wonder if the school really did let a middle schooler in accidentally.

When the announcement that the tests would be starting soon came in, Akemi let out a full-bodied whine; head thrown back, shoulders sagging and a loud, “Awwww!” She instantly popped back into her happy demeanour before she could draw any more attention to the pair, “I guess we’ll just have to talk more when we make it in, huh?” Huh.

“You’re awfully confident, especially when there’s a pretty high chance neither of us will get in,” Nobu said simply.

Akemi laughed, slapping a hand against his back, “Don’t worry! We’re totally gonna make it!” She pointed at her head with a wink, “Call it woman’s intuition!” With a giggle, she began to walk away, giving him a loud, “Good luck, Bu-kun!” over her shoulder. Nobu had figured sending her a mental good luck back in response was probably good enough. He couldn’t wait to finish this exam and get back home before this maybe-probably-definite cold actually came in.

When he received the mailed letter that he had made it in, he was half asleep and had to sleepily reread it several times before the news actually sunk in. He instantly woke up, his eyes widening as he brought the letter closer to his face, trying to find some way to know that this wasn’t just an error. When all he saw were boring school requirements and congratulations, he couldn’t help the whoop of joy he let out. He actually somehow made it into one of the most prestigious performing art schools in the country! What the hell? A happy hum bubbled out from his throat as he rolled his chair over to reach his notebook and pencil, trying to take down the happy melody that had suddenly popped into his head. His parents would probably be pretty thrilled, too, but he figured he’d just wait to tell them the news when they came back home. Oh, and he should probably maybe also message Hibiki. Knowing him, he probably already got in and was going to start blowing his phone up with messages about how obvious it was he was going to get in. Right now, though, he was happy to simply relish the unusually happy melody that was floating through his mind.

The second time Nobu walked onto the Saotome Academy grounds, it was a fairly pleasant spring day with not one snowflake in sight. He also had on the official uniform. His hands made their way to his tie, rolling and unrolling the end. The blazer was… reasonably comfortable and did a fair job of keeping the cool spring morning cold away. As he walked into the courtyard where most of the other accepted students were milling about waiting for the introductory assembly, he examined the many people around him. He suddenly felt very aware of the bags under his eyes as he noticed the blemish-free faces of many of the people around him.

A loud gasp followed by an exclaimed, “Bu-kun!” caught his attention. A pair of familiar pale purple space buns caught his attention and he looked down to see the girl he had met on the day of the entrance exam shaking in what he hoped was excitement or some other happy emotion. “You made it in!”

“So did you,” Nobu pointed out, looking at the female version of the uniform she had on, along with the many accessories she had in her hair and numerous bracelets around her wrists.

“You got that right!” she beamed, feet tippity tapping against the ground like she was a tap dancer. “This is gonna be the best year ever!”

Nobu could only shrug. He wondered what exactly was gonna be in store for them in the next year. It was a school full of performers, taught by performers at that, so he had a feeling he’ll be in for a very flashy and loud experience. He was only proven right when, once everyone had taken their seats and sat through a surprisingly normal introduction, the headmaster came flying in, all bouncy and spinning round like some odd combination of a yoyo spinning top toy. Now, this was just about what he had been expecting around here. After spewing some generic-sounding lines about music being love and putting your soul into your song, he was flying off again, throwing a quick congratulations on them making it in before he was completely out of sight followed by confetti raining down on them. That was definitely one way to make a grand entrance.

The rest of the assembly was much more mundane, welcoming speeches, general guidelines, expectations, blah, blah, before they were dismissed to go to their classes. It was barely a beat after that the familiar head of cotton candy purple hair was bouncing towards him.

“Bu-kun! Wait up! Let’s go together!” Nobu found himself actually stopping to wait for the girl as she bounded towards him. How did she even spot him out so fast? She grinned up at him, “What class are you in?”

“S,” he answered.

Akemi’s expression dropped to a pout. “Eh? S? Boo! I’m in A!” Nobu stared down at her with an eyebrow raised in surprise. A class was still the second-best class in the whole school. For the first time, he wondered what type of songs she wrote to have made her land such a high class. “Guess we won’t be able to spend class time together.” Her saddened expression was quickly replaced by a grin once more, “But S class! That’s pretty amazing!” She chuckled as she lightly elbowed his side a couple of times, “You’ll let me in on all the super-secret special top class stuff you guys will be doing, right?”

Even though he doubted that there even would be anything special there, he nodded. Akemi gave him a pleased nod at that and began babbling away at all the things she hoped for and couldn’t wait to see during their time here. While he didn’t really have any real expectations on what he wanted here, he supposed he was pretty excited on the thought of making his song writing even better than before.

* * *

Akemi looked around her new classroom. It looked way fancier than any other classroom she’d ever seen, that’s for sure! She was pretty sure if they put all the desks away and covered the chalkboard, it could probably be perfect for a mini-ball room or something. She stepped into the room, the feel of her poofy skirt underneath her hands felt nice and made it hard not to want to pat down on it and twirl around. She watched as people filled into the class, people sitting down, walking up to other people and talking to each other. Bu-kun was off in S class and she probably couldn’t just waltz in there for the few minutes they had before classes started…

She waked over to her seat, needing to check the seating arrangements just to be sure it really was hers and placed her bag down onto it. Her eyes caught onto a boy sitting by his lonesome in back row and a smile found its way onto her face. That wasn’t any good. Maybe she could make friends with him! Just as she was about to go up to him, another boy in the back row suddenly shoot up to his feet. She would have ignored the small action if it weren’t for the fact that he suddenly rushed forward, yelling a very loud and drawn out, “Elizabeth!” before pouncing forward. The boy was a giant! He was probably going to squash the poor girl he had made a jump onto! She almost felt the urge to cover her eyes but the boy she had spotted sitting near him just a moment before had managed pull the girl away and push the red haired boy she had been talking to before into the giant’s landing area, making the poor boy end up glomped on. Somehow, the red haired boy hadn’t toppled to the ground even with the tall boy hanging on him like an oversized koala but unfortunately, his expert balance and strength was thrown off as the tall boy jumped off him. Even if she couldn’t hear their conversation, the loud laughs and bright smiles on their faces as they spoke made a part of her yearn for that. She wanted to make a group of friends like that! Like they were main characters in some slice of life anime! Her eyes followed the boy she had originally been wanting to talk to as he walked over to his seat again. Maybe, now that he was alone she could-!

A click sounded through the room before it suddenly darkened, the curtains draping down and multi-coloured lights lit up the ceiling. Oh! Another fancy introduction! “Good morning-pu!” A spotlight flashed on, shining onto a person in the front- oh, Ringo! Akemi really liked seeing Ringo on TV, he had tons of style and reminded her a lot of Reiji! When he announced that he’d be their teacher, she almost felt like jumping out of her seat in joy. She had absolutely no problems with someone like Ringo being her teacher for the next year! In fact, she was pretty dang stoked!

Even though he was talking about boring school announcements and boring Saotome Academy facts, Akemi found herself able to pay attention oddles more than she thought she could since just watching Ringo felt like she was just watching an idol special on TV and not a teacher. If every day went by like this, then this school was going to be a breeze!

When lunch rolled round, her gaze wondered around the room for the familiar mop of black, curly hair of her new friend. She found him soon enough, quickly making her way over to him, a yell for his name sitting on her tongue before she realised he was sitting with someone. Had he managed to make a friend? Before she could make another friend?!

“Bu-kun?” she called, causing both people at the table to look towards her.

The other boy raised an eyebrow, an amused smile on his face, “Bu-kun? Oh ho? You managed to make a friend here already, Nobu?” Akemi looked the boy over. He had short, spiky blonde hair that swept slightly to the side and his eyes were a light shade of green. He had a couple of piercings on his left ear that looked pretty cool.

Nobu shrugged so Akemi took it upon herself to answer for him, “Yes! My name is Fukuyo Akemi but you can call me Akemi or Ake-chan or Michan!”

The blonde boy got up from his chair, and took hold of the hand Akemi had up in a wave. He brought a hand to his chest and bowed, “Michan, it is. My name is Fujiori Hibiki and it is an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Akemi couldn’t help the giggle that slipped through her lips. She’d never been greeted like this before! Like seeing a real life knight or prince!

She decided to play along with the funny image of the boy before her as some fully armoured knight or prince with a large, funny crown on his head. Once he freed her hand, she curtsied like she’d seen in a bunch of fairy tale movies, holding her poofy skirt like it had been made especially for her meeting with a neighbouring prince. “A pleasure, Hibi-kun,” she attempted in the most posh accent she could manage before she quickly asked, “Can I call you Hibi-kun?”

Hibiki laughed in amusement, hand rubbing at her head and causing her to squawk, “Of course, of course!” Hibiki ushered Akemi to take a seat at their table which the girl eagerly took. She looked over at Nobu, befuddled at seeing the boy’s eyes closed. He did have dark bags under his eyes but was he really that sleepy? “How did you two meet?” Hibiki asked, looking between the two of them. Nobu’s eyes sluggishly blinked open, Akemi wondering if he had really fallen asleep or if he was actually trying to do so. Oh, maybe he was actually thinking up songs in his head! That would be really cool!

She eagerly took to the task of replying to Hibiki when it seemed Nobu wasn’t going to, “We met at the composer entrance exam!” She hadn’t noticed Nobu’s mouth slowly close when he realised he didn’t need to answer the question.

Hibiki’s eyes widened, “You’re a composer, Michan?” Akemi nodded zealously, causing her hair that had already been loosened slightly from Hibiki’s head rub to loosen further, resulting in a long strand of her hair falling out of place.

With a huff, she got to work fixing it while she spoke, “I want to make lots and lots of songs to make people dance and sing and feel all types of colourful things when they hear it!” Her feet swung underneath her, the memory of seeing a group of her friends enjoying a song she had written up with sparkling and shining eyes filled her up with fizzy glee, like the _pop pop_ of bubbles in a soda.

Hibiki hummed, “I see. Quite a wonderful reason to write songs. I’d love to listen some of the songs you’ve made.” Akemi beamed, almost nodding but stopped herself as she definitely didn’t want to accidentally poke herself with the hair pin she was currently putting into place. “And what class are you in, Michan?”

“A class,” she proudly announced. Hibiki let out a low whistle.

“Impressive. Though, I do truly wish we had ended up in the same class,” he sighed with all the flair of some woeful Shakespearean actor, “But I was fortunate enough to end up in the same class as Nobu so I can’t complain, I suppose.” At the mention of his name, Akemi looked over at him, noting that he had his eyes closed once more, his head drooping. Was he really that sleepy?

“You and Nobu are friends, right, Hibi-kun?” Akemi question, receiving a nod from the blonde, “Did you become friends here?”

“No, no, we met quite a few years back… We were twelve at the time and I happened to find Nobu sitting alone composing a song. The song was pretty great for anything I’d seen from another kid before and bothered him enough to be his friend.” Hibiki cackled, his nose scrunching up and a wide grin formed on his face, Akemi chortled quietly at the expression.

“You’re in the idol course, right?”

“Yep,” Hibiki said in English, popping the ‘p’ before continuing in Japanese, “It’d be a shame not to be an idol with how perfect I’d be for the job. A heavy burden but a burden I must bear.” Akemi laughed, Hibiki was a pretty amusing guy. He’d probably be great on variety shows! Her stomach growling caught her attention, making her realise she still needed to grab lunch before the rest of the day lessons continued.

She attempted to excuse herself but Hibiki suggested they all go since he and Nobu hadn’t gotten anything either. Nobu jerked out of his sleep when Hibiki poked him square in the forehead but got out of his chair as if he knew what they were doing. Could he listen to what was happening around him when he slept?

“Shining Agency is one of the best idol agencies in the country, and one of the best ways to get in is by graduating from this academy so obviously, I had to attend,” Hibiki explained as they got their lunches. Akemi nodded before turning to Nobu, realising that even though Nobu knew why she was here, she had no idea why he was here!

“Bu-kun! Why did you come here?”

Nobu looked down at her once she was quiet. “Wanted to come to a school for composing and a lot of good composers came from here so why not.” Nobu’s voice was slow and his words jumbled together a little, not like Hibiki’s clear and projective voice but Akemi thought it fit him so she guessed she liked it. She nodded in understanding before whipping around to face Hibiki.

“I came here for Reiji!” Hibiki raised an eyebrow at that.

“Kotobuki Reiji?” Akemi nodded.

“Since he came here, I wanted to learn to make music here, too and then one day I might be able to write a song for him!” Hibiki let out an ‘ah’ of understanding.

“That’s some goal you have there, Michan. But if you manage to make it through here and into the agency, there won’t be much standing between you and getting to write him that song.” Akemi nodded, already fully aware of that. She just had to make it through this year, easy as pie!

The rest of the school day was normal, boring school requirements, mainly Ringo really getting into the meat and potatoes of how classes would be run as well as making them all aware that since this was a vocational school, practical assignments would be a large chunk of their overall time here. Not like she wasn’t expecting that, she’d probably be a little more hesitant about attending this school if it was mostly just music theory and junk. By the time they were let out for the day, she felt mentally exhausted. But, she was excited to learn more about her roommate! She was in the idol course but in the B class. Her name was Kiya Suzu and she was really pretty with long, brown hair that curled at the end and almost covered one of her eyes and she had golden catlike eyes.

She opened her door, momentarily intimidated by the stacks of boxes that littered her, _they’re_ she reminded herself, room before her eyes settled onto the other girl in the room. “Zu-chan!” she called as she closed the door behind her while waving at the girl. Suzu turned to her and smiled, her eyes narrowing slightly like she remembered her neighbour’s cat doing when it was sleepy.

“Akemi,” she greeted back slowly, “I look forward to sharing this room with you.”

“Ah! Me too!” Akemi hurriedly bowed, Suzu doing the same, a lot more relaxed. Suzu turned to her boxes, pulling out different posters and metal plated pictures. Akemi looked around their room, her eyes constantly moving to the middle where the white of her walls abruptly turned to the deep purple of Suzu’s side of the room. While her bed had soft coloured sheets with a couple of pillows and tons of stuffed animals, Suzu’s bed had all kinds of geometric shapes on the sheets and lots of purple and pink and black pillows and not a stuffed animal in sight. Akemi kept noticing all the small differences between her side and the idol-in-training’s side in awe. She had never gotten to share a room with someone and it was already really cool!

“Be sure to unpack your things before it gets too late,” Suzu coolly reminded, not even looking over at Akemi. Like a mature, big sister, Akemi thought, her eyes sparkling.

“Roger!” she nodded, turning to her boxes and getting started on unpacking. This was really going to be a great year, she just knew it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise you'll be seeing more of the uta princes in the next chapter!


	2. Episode 2

As tired as the previous day had left Nobu, he found himself unable to sleep. Everything felt… too different. The bed had an odd sinking feel to it and faced the wrong way, the room smelt unfamiliar and much too much like a hotel if anything, and even the ceiling felt uncomfortably dark, the wood much darker than the wood of his ceiling back home. It was going to take way too long to adjust to this new room.

“Nobu, wake up. Well, if you even got any sleep in the first place.” As much as he wished he could say having Hibiki as a roommate brought more familiarity, it only aimed to further remind him how foreign this all was. Sure, he was pretty relieved that he was rooming with someone he knew but it’s not like he knew Hibiki all that well either. They met up pretty infrequently, Hibiki having to travel around with his family quite a lot.

Hibiki eventually got fed up with waiting for Nobu to get out of bed himself, ripping his very comfortable bedcovers off of him and herding him out of the bed to finally get onto the act of getting ready for the day. Nobu had no real urge to get angry at the blonde, maybe he was a little irritated but he had a feeling he probably would end up getting out of bed at the last possible second if he hadn’t been forced out.

Once he was ready, he and Hibiki walked to their classes, Hibiki blathering on about what he wondered the second day would be like. Entering their class, he immediately plopped down onto his chair, laying his head onto his arms and hoping he’d be able to catch at least a few minutes of sleep before Hyuga-sensei entered the class. He wished that they had a weekend to at least get used to the new surroundings before they had to attend classes.

After what felt like barely a few seconds of rest, Hyuga’s voice called a greeting to the class, telling everyone to get to their seats. With a heavy exhale, Nobu forced himself to sit up, rubbing a hand down his face to wipe off as much sleep as he could. Hyuga had an attention-demanding tone to it, which probably helped Nobu stay somewhat alert of what he was saying. That didn’t make keeping awake any less of a pain, though.

“Once the first term is over, idol course students and composition students will pair up.”

That definitely woke him up a bit more from the just barely conscious state he had been. Hyoga continued to explain that it could be any student from any class and you’d have to use that pairing for the graduation audition performance. The victorious pair will be given the wonderful graduation gift of a major debut. So they all had to meet tons of people and find who they thought would be their best fit for the other half of their pair to graduate with.

Oh, there was also the little rule of no dating which Nobu hardly saw needed as much emphasis as his teacher put behind it. He probably wouldn’t have gone out of his way to find someone to date even if he knew the rule was in place or not.

The next announcement was just about as attention-grabbing as the first. They were going to be paired up for a recording test, the idol kids writing the lyrics while the composer kids wrote the music. Well, that seemed like it’d be pretty fun. Hyoga showed them the randomly chosen pairs. Nobu looked for his name in the list and found it paired up with someone named “Kurusu Syo”. Unfortunately, having not thought finding out the names of his fellow students would be important so soon, he had no idea who that was. Maybe they’d find him or by some miracle, Hibiki knew who that was and he could just ask him who that was. After Hyoga got one of the composer kid’s to play the previous best song from last year, they were allowed a few minutes to talk to their partner before the theory classes began.

With a groan, Nobu walked over to Hibiki’s desk when his partner didn’t seem to know who he was either. Hibiki was talking to a girl, who Nobu assumed was his partner, before noticing Nobu approaching him and smiled at him.

“Nobu! Well, this is awkward. My partner is Yumi-chan over here-“

“I’m not blind,” Nobu interrupted, “I have no idea who my partner is.”

Hibiki snickered, “Ah, I see,” he looked back over at the chart, “Kurusu Syo… Ah, it’s the guy with the beige hoodie, can’t miss him. Doesn’t he sit right in front of you?”

“It doesn’t really matter where he was sitting, it’s not like that would have changed whether I knew who he was or not,” Nobu grumbled.

Hibiki rolled his eyes, the smile still on his face showing he meant no real ill from it, “Someone’s a little grumpy from not getting enough sleep. You’re welcome, Nobu-kun!”

Nobu grumbled a thanks before making his way to the boy Hibiki had pointed out. He really wasn’t someone you could just overlook in a crowd. Hell, he looked like some kinda protagonist with his special hoodie instead of the normal blazers most of the class wore and bright blonde hair. All he needed was the window side seat at the back of the class and he might as well be the main character in an anime.

Nobu stood beside his desk, getting the blonde’s attention, “Kurusu Syo?”

Syo’s face lit up, “Ah, Kagemine Nobu?” After giving him a nod, Syo gave him a grin, getting to his feet and extending a hand out to him. “Pleasure working with ya!”

“Yeah, pleasure working with you,” Nobu nodded, taking hold of Syo’s hand and giving it a shake. Before either of them could say anything more, Hyoga called for all of them to return to their seats. As Nobu took his seat, his thoughts turned to Syo. Energetic, loud, probably the reliable type with a delinquent look. His first thought was probably that something upbeat would fit him, or maybe, something to build on that resoluteness that just shone off of him...

Realising his thoughts had completely distracted him from what Hyoga was saying, he tried tuning into the lesson, but his mind kept slipping into what kind of songs he could write that would best fit the blonde sitting in front of him.

By the time classes ended, he had a general idea of what he wanted to try out for the song. As he got up, a voice called out to him, “Nobu!” Nobu looked down at the blonde standing in front of his desk. “When are you free? I want to get to working on this as soon as we can!”

“I was hoping we could talk it over during lunch,” Nobu suggested, “The general idea of the song.”

Syo put up an okay sign, “Gotcha! Lunch’s perfect! We can grab something real quick and find some quiet spot to talk it out.”

Nobu nodded. After pulling out his hat from his bag and putting it on, Syo led the way to the cafeteria, Nobu taking note of the oddly squared up way he walked like he had some invisible bulk of muscle on him or something. His head was held high, a snicker of a thought passed Nobu’s head that it was probably because he was short but the louder part of his mind supplied it seemed like he just looked proud and sure with every step he took, in a way that he didn’t need to hang his head for anything.

Syo looked over his shoulder, their eyes meeting. Nobu blinked, not realising his eyes had narrowed as he picked apart the boy’s walking style. “Something wrong?” Syo asked to which Nobu shook his head. Seemed like he was pretty attentive to his surroundings too, or rather if someone was focused on him. Hm.

“Bu-kun!” Nobu looked over, the increasingly become familiar sight of the cotton candy purple buns hopping over to him but the new sight of someone behind her caught her attention. The guy next to her was huge but he wore an expression so similar to the bubbly one on her that he hardly found the height all that intimidating because of it. Honestly, the significant gap in stature between the two was a little amusing.

The tall boy next to her gasped, “Syo-chan!” before running towards them.

A startled gasp left Syo’s lips as he flinched backward, just barely dodging out of the way of the taller blonde’s attempt at hugging him, as well as the attempt following it. “Natsuki, what the hell are you- ack!” Unfortunately, he hadn’t been fast enough to dodge the last hug as the bespectacled guy managed to engulf him in a hug. “Let go of me! You’re gonna crush me!” Syo wheezed and Nobu couldn’t help the wince of sympathy at the shorter blonde’s predicament. Despite the sweet look on the bespectacled boy’s face, it definitely looked like he was hugging the literal life out of Syo. Natsuki let him go just about as fast as he had grabbed him, Syo taking a moment to right himself, heaving slightly. Nobu had half a mind to ask if he was alright but something about asking someone if they were alright after _a hug_ seemed kind of… odd.

“Is this your partner, Bu-kun?” Akemi asked, her eyes planted firmly on the recovering Syo. Nobu could practically feel the sparkles emitting from her.

“Yeah,” Nobu nodded, the action ultimately useless as the girl was too preoccupied with staring at the shorter blonde.

“I’m Fukuyo Akemi! But you can call me Akemi or Ake-chan or Michan!” Nobu half wondered if she used that introduction with everyone she met. Syo took one final gasp for air before he seemed to just snap back into normalcy, a lively grin on his face.

“The name’s Kurusu Syo, it’s nice to meet you, Akemi!” he brought a hand out for her to shake. For a moment, she simply stared at his hand. Nobu wondered if she was taking in the sight of the bangles on his hand or the nail polish before she took hold of his hand with both of hers, shaking it with way more energy than he thought appropriate for a handshake, the sound of both their bangles and bracelets clanking loud as she exclaimed a, “You too, you too!” Syo seemed bewildered for a second but his features relaxed as he let out a laugh.

“Oh, Bu-kun, this is my partner,” Akemi announced once she let go of Syo’s hand, gesturing to the tall man who had been observing the scene silently with a smile.

“I’m Shinomiya Natsuki,” he introduced, his voice gentle and melodious.

“Kagemine Nobu,” Nobu nodded, looking the boy over.

He clasped his hands together, a bright grin that could probably rival Akemi’s formed on his face, “Nobu-chan! I hope we get along!”

“Same,” was the eloquent reply Nobu gave.

“I really want to talk to you and Syo-kun,” Akemi paused for a moment before turning to Syo, “Is Syo-kun alright?”

Syo gave her a thumbs up, “Yeah, I don’t mind.”

Akemi beamed at the approval, nodding heartily before continuing, “I really want to hang out with you but me and Natsu-kun have much to discuss!” She took a hold of Natsuki’s arm, her other hand on her hip, her smile wide.

Natsuki nodded in agreement with a short laugh, “Yes, yes. I’m sorry, Syo-chan, but I’ll have to sit with Michan today.”

“Why’re you apologizing for, go ahead,” Syo huffed, waving a dismissive hand at the blonde. “We were gonna have to sit somewhere else anyway.”

“Bye-bye, Syo-kun, Bu-kun! Good luck!” Akemi called as she and Natsuki walked away, waving at the two of them over their shoulders. Nobu wasn’t quite sure how to feel over the fact that Akemi had managed to find someone that seemed to have to same bubbly personality as her. Well, at least she didn’t give him life-threatening hugs.

Speaking of, he turned his attention back to Syo, his expression seemed exasperated as he sighed. He looked over at Nobu and plastered on a smile. “Let’s go get out lunches. We gotta get this song rolling!”

Nobu nodded, definitely not opposed to the thought of eating. They quickly got their lunches, having to get food they could package up since they would need to be eating out to avoid the noise of the cafeteria, and walked around a bit before settling on a bench a little ways away from the school building.

“Man, that’s some view!” Nobu had to agree. The bench looked over the lake and forest behind the school. With the slight peace that came with having such a large plot of land for the school, and the pleasantly warm weather, it felt like a wonderful place to get to writing the song. “Alright, let’s get down to it!”

Nobu nodded, opening his bag and pulling his notebook out. “Do you have a general idea of what you want the song’s concept to be?”

Syo hummed, tapping the hard plastic top of the container holding his salad. “Was hoping for something encouraging, like,” Syo brought his fists up, “You listen to it and feel all charged up and ready to face anything like ‘BAM’!” Syo shot his fist out, punching the air, his grin turning sharp. He looked over at Nobu.

Nobu nodded, writing down the gist of it. That definitely felt like something that would suit Syo before asking another question, further probing the mental image Syo had for the song, taking note of the idea the blonde had attentively, adding his own input to the notes, saying some of them aloud to the blonde and figuring some were better kept to himself rather than out loud. Eventually, their thoughts and ideas solidified the concept of the song. A song about living your life at full throttle. “Nothing like a song to quick you into gear about how much you can get outta life, right?” Syo laughed. “Life’s too short to not want to tackle on any challenge head-on and keep going even stronger and stronger after that!”

Personally, Nobu couldn’t say he lived that philosophy much outside of music. But hey, it felt pretty fitting for the blonde so he nodded. Honestly, he was pretty pleased with how much they had gotten figured out about the song during this period. The concept was solid and would make for a damn awesome song. Great, now he was getting stoked just thinking of what he could map out for this!

Syo laughed, “You’re looking pretty excited there!” Nobu looked up from his notes, realising that he was grinning. He tried to stamp it down but to little use, excited energy was practically buzzing through him. Syo let out a guffaw, patting his back heartily, “It’s great! I’m pretty pumped for this, too!” The sound of the five-minute bell before lunch ended chimed, the sound loud enough to carry out as far as they were. The sound sapped his excitement, not quite getting rid of all of it but definitely dampening it. It seemed to be the case for Syo, too as he let out a groan.

“Man, I didn’t even get to eat.” The two got to their feet, quickly making their way back to the school building while stealing as many bites from their food as they could. “How about we continue this after school?” Syo suggested to which Nobu very easily agreed to.

“Sounds good.”

* * *

Akemi couldn’t help the noises of amazement as she looked over the compositions Natsuki had in his notebook. He had suggested that they look over those when she asked what kind of idea he wanted for the song but she hadn’t expected him to be this good at songwriting.

“Natsu-kun, these are amazing!” she said in astonishment, staring up at the boy in amazement.

Natsuki perked up at the praise, “Thank you very much! The stars helped me write them!”

Ameki’s eyes widened, “The stars?”

“Yes! If I listen to them well enough, they tell me what to write.” His eyes moved to the sky, prompting Ameki to do the same. Obviously, the skies were bright and blue, the only star they could see is the big, bright sun but she couldn’t help staring at the sky in awe. It sounded like magic, like a fantasy! Writing really amazing songs cause the stars whispered them to you, like a bedtime story for promising little songwriters.

“That sounds really, really cool, Natsu-kun!” Ameki exclaimed, snapping her attention back to the tall man beside her. He gave her a pleased smile before she suddenly found herself swept up in a hug. It was warm and comforting, Natsuki was a really good hugger!

“Ahhh, you’re so cute, Michan!” he cooed, “You remind me of a cute little doll!”

Ameki beamed, returning the hug with as much warmth to give as Natsuki was giving her, “You’re like a giant teddy bear!”

Natsuki giggled, loosening his hold on her and allowing her to sit back down, “Thank you! Teddy bears are very cute, aren’t they?”

“Very!”

After another short moment of admiring the charm that is stuffed animals, they finally got to work on the idea of the song. “A song that will make people happy even when they’re sad,” Natsuki muttered thoughtfully.

“A cheer-up song?”

Natsuki nodded, “That’s what I want it to be! A song to remind you about the happy when you’re feeling the sadness.” Ameki nodded, noting that down intently. Natsuki would be perfect for that! From what Ameki’s seen, there was no way anyone didn’t feel at least a little happier when Natsuki was being happy. Natsu could mean summer and Natsuki felt like a summer person to Ameki. They both eagerly tackled the task of setting a base for the song, sometimes suggesting something but feeling a little odd about how it would fit into the song but for the most part, they were able to get a wonderful idea for the song in not too long of a time.

As they winded down, Ameki’s thoughts moved to another composer. Watching Nanami stare at the piano like a stranger during class had made something in her cry in sympathy for the girl. And their classmates had been really mean about it, too! Maybe she had stage fright? Or maybe she really didn’t know how to read music. But that didn’t mean they could say all that rude stuff about her like that!

“Michan?” Natsuki calling out for her snapped her out of her thoughts.

She put on a smile, “Oh, sorry, Natsu-kun! What did you say?”

Natsuki’s usually ever-present smile thinned to a concerned frown, “Is something wrong?”

“No! Nothing’s wrong!” she waved his concerns off but paused when the frown didn’t falter. “Well… maybe… there is just a little something that’s wrong.” Natsuki nodded encouragingly. “It’s… about what happened in class today.”

Understanding dawned on Natsuki’s face, “With Haru-chan, right?” Akemi nodded and Natsuki sighed, “I’m worried about her, too. I must admit, she is the reason I thought of the song’s theme.” Akemi looked up at him, her eyes wide. “She seemed quite shaken up about the whole event.” Noticing Akemi’s shoulders slump in worry, Natsuki quickly gave her a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry! I’m sure Haru-chan is doing her best to overcome it! Worrying like that won’t do her any good.”

Akemi’s brows furrowed. She knew Natsuki was right. It’s not like her sitting here worrying for the girl would help her get any better. Wait… Akemi perked up as a thought floated into her mind, “Let’s check on her!”

Natsuki’s smile dropped as he blinked in confusion, “Check on her?”

“Well, you said sitting here worrying won’t do her any good so let’s go over to her and see if she’s alright ourselves!” The idea was great! Maybe if she got to see for herself that she was fine, then all this dumb worrying business won’t get in the way of her songwriting. Natsuki seemed to consider it for a moment before another sunny smile came to his face.

“Wonderful idea! Let’s go find her!” Natsuki got to his feet, Akemi following close behind after stuffing her notebook into her bag. The two rushed into the school, Akemi staring longingly at the long strides Natsuki could so easily make while she had to practically jog to keep pace with him. Despite their fast speed and asking people around if they’d seen the cherry haired composer, they wound up spending the last ten minutes before the warning bell searching with no success on spotting the girl. The momentary hope that had blossomed in Akemi’s chest withered, leaving her feeling even worse. What happened to her? Did she hide away somewhere? Did she leave the school? Did she quit school?! What if this had all been so traumatic that she gave up on music for good?! What if-

A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her escalating thoughts. She looked up at Natsuki who gave her a calm smile. “Maybe she just needed a bit of time to herself. We can always check on her later.”

Akemi blinked up at him before frowning. He was right. She didn’t need to be all in a slump for this. Akemi definitely wouldn’t want someone whose sad trying to cheer her up, she’d just end up even sadder! Lightly slapping her cheeks and the negative feelings away, she gave Natsuki the best smile she could manage, “Thanks, Natsu-kun!”

Natsuki beamed back and waved off her thanks, instead ushered her to the class they would most definitely be late for if they didn’t book it. Luckily, they managed to make it just before Ringo came in, though the sight of the downtrodden Nanami made Ameki feel saddened once more. She couldn’t even talk to her after class as she left almost as soon as Ringo had dismissed them for the day, Otoya following not too far behind. Maybe the best person to help her would be her own partner. After all, her own partner needed her full attention, too! This project wouldn’t be any fun if she was a big, soggy worrywart for the whole of it and the last thing she wanted was to make Natsuki feel like she wasn’t any fun to make songs with!

Filled with a new determination, she got to her feet and walked over to Natsuki’s table, the taller boy had just placed his book away before turning his attention to her and smiled. “Natsu-kun! Would you mind us continuing a bit more with the song today?”

“Of course! I’d love to,” Natsuki nodded keenly, getting to his feet. “It would be nice if we could go back outside but…” Natsuki trailed off, looking towards the window. Akemi followed his gaze, pouting at the sight of the ominous rain clouds that formed outside.

“Well, this school is huge!” her arms spread out, “I’m sure we’ll find somewhere nice we can continue talking it over!”

“Actually, I was thinking we could go to the library,” Natsuki suggested, beginning to walk out of the classroom with Akemi close behind with a skip in her step. “I hadn’t been there for too long but it’s a very calming place. I’m sure it’ll make for a perfect place to write songs!”

Akemi brought up two thumbs up with an eager, “Sounds good!” The walk to the library was filled with light chatter, mostly about the excitement of their first night here. Natsuki was more than willing to let her in on the fact that he and Syo were roommates and how excited he was to share the room with him when she talked about her own excitement of having a roommate.

“It feels so nice to get to share a room with someone as cute as Syo-chan,” Natsuki admitted, his eyes seeming to shine behind his glasses. Since he mentioned the blonde, Akemi felt the familiar excitement of getting to know someone new rekindle inside her. From seeing the cool, black fedora he wore, to the multiple, shiny bracelets and bangles and even how perfectly done his nails looked, Akemi couldn’t help but think how cool the boy looked. Maybe if they could talk, they could talk about their different accessories or maybe he could tell her how he got to make his nails look so nice since she was no expert at painting her own.

“Syo-kun seems like he’d be an awesome roommate,” Akemi nodded, “And so do you, Natsu-kun!”

“You think so?”

“Yeah! You seem like you’d be tons of fun to have!”

Natsuki clasped his hands together, “I think you’d make a great roommate, too, Michan!”

Their small chatter continued on until they reached the library, the sudden silence of the room felt oddly gloomy with the faint sound of rain outside. With how big and… wooden the library was, it felt like she was in an old-timey mansion in an old novel. They found a good spot at the slightly further end of the library where they could hopefully get away with talking softly without bothering the other students there or the librarian.

It was pretty easy to fall back into the previous mood they were in as they made up the song, this time Akemi made sure to keep her focus on the song and only the song. This wasn’t much an issue with how much enthusiasm Natsuki had as they discussed how the tone of the song should go which rubbed off on her as she excitedly jotted down everything the two of them came up with.

It was just as they were wrapping up that a familiar shade of red caught Akemi’s eye. Looking over at the entrance, her eyes widened as she realised it was Nanami, walking into the room. Having noticed her odd silence, Natsuki looked over to what had caught the composer’s attention, a pleased smile forming on his face when he realised it was the other composer they had been worried about. When he looked back down at Akemi, his smile dropped when she wasn’t in her seat.

Akemi rushed over to the red-orange haired composer, waving a hand enthusiastically at her. “Nanami-san!” she called, catching the girl’s attention. Nanami whipped around to face her, obvious confusion on her face at the approaching girl.

“Uh, hello?” she greeted courtly. Akemi examined her expression, satisfied to see not a hint of sadness on her face. Whatever had happened between class and now must have really helped her. That was a relief.

Clearing her throat, she introduced herself, “I’m in your class! My name is Fukuyo Akemi, but please call me Akemi or Ake-chan or Michan!” 

“Oh,” Nanami blinked in surprise before she smiled, but it looked so very formal and forced that Akemi had to reel in a grimace at the expression. “My name is Nanami Haruka. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I know! I was worried about you!” Nanami’s eyes widened.

“Worried?”

“Yeah, with what happened earlier in class, with the piano!” Nanami frowned and Akemi momentarily panicked, “I, uh, well, not really just me but Natsu-kun, too, we wanted to make sure you were alright!”

“Natsu-kun?” Akemi gestured over to the table she and Natsuki had been sitting at, only to realise that he had walked over to them without either of them noticing. “Shinomiya-san?”

“I’m so happy to see you’re alright now, Haru-chan,” Natsuki cheered, his smile seeming to be even brighter than it had been before. Akemi wondered if he was pushing down his own worry while they worked on the song just like she was. “But what was the problem before? Could you have gotten stage fright?”

The thought made an unpleasant shiver run down Akemi’s spine, “Stage fright is scary…”

Nanami hurriedly shook her head, “No, no, nothing like that. I…” she sighed, “I couldn’t read the music.”

For a moment, Natsuki and Akemi simply blinked at the admission. “You… couldn’t read the music?” Natsuki asked bewildered. Nanami nodded, her frown deepening.

“Yes, but!” she looked up, a firm determination in her eyes, “I’m going to learn how to now.”

Once again, Natsuki and Akemi shared a blink before smiles formed on their faces, Natsuki’s a proud, sparkling smile and Akemi an excited, wide grin. Akemi sprung forward, taking one of Nanami’s hands into her own, staring at the slightly taller girl in glee.

“I can help you!” she suggested earnestly. Nanami’s stared at her, the shock very evident from her wide eyes and gaping mouth.

“Eh?”

“I know how to read music so I’d be more than happy to help you learn, too!”

This time, the, “Eh!” from Nanami was louder as she shook her head. “I couldn’t- I wouldn’t want to interrupt you two while you’re still writing your song!”

“It’s alright, Haru-chan,” Natsuki chimed in. “I think we’ve done quite a bit on it today. I’d be more than happy to lend you a hand as well.” Akemi looked back at the tall boy in gratitude to which he gave her an assuring smile back. The two waited as Nanami seemed to consider it, her gaze focused on the floor before she looked up at them and nodded, a soft, much more genuine smile forming on her face.

“Then, I’ll be in your care, Shinomiya-san, Akemi-chan.” The two both cheered, Natsuki wrapping them up in a hug that had Nanami spluttering and Akemi laughing. They ushered Nanami to their table, Akemi quickly asking if she could use the ‘Haru-chan’ nickname as well, to which Haruka easily agreed.

Akemi quickly learned that she was not a very good teacher, having to fumble a bit when her explanations sounded confusing even to her own ears. Thankfully, Natsuki would genially take over any place she couldn’t explain, his instructions clear and simple. Even Akemi was awestruck at how easily he seemed to be able to guide Haruka through the basics of note reading and writing. She was even more impressed at how well Haruka was taking it all in. She was just absorbing all the information like her brain was a musical sponge or something! From the delighted twinkle in Natsuki’s eyes every time Haruka managed to grasp something rather quickly, she guessed he was pretty impressed, too.

Before any of them knew it, the librarian announced that the library would be closing in ten minutes. “Already?” Akemi gasped, looking down at the pastel watch on her wrist. “It’s so late already!”

“This was really fun,” Natsuki sighed, “You’re really smart, Haru-chan. It didn’t feel like we were teaching you anything at all!”

Akemi perked up, “Yeah! It took me ages to learn all this and you got it like,” she snapped her fingers to illustrate her point.

Haruka looked bashful, her cheeks pinkening as she giggled, “I think having you two help me probably made it really easy to learn all this. Thank you both very much,” she bowed slightly and Akemi couldn’t help the happy giggle that left her lips.

“No problem! We composers gotta stick together, right?” she winked with a smirk to which Haruka laughed softly in response.

“And idols and composers are meant to work together as a team as well,” Natsuki stated, the memory of Ringo’s words from early today coming to Akemi’s mind. “Right, Haru-chan? Michan?” Akemi raised a fist as she let out a, “Right!” and Haruka nodded soon after. Natsuki’s smile suddenly widened, “I know! How about we all go for dinner together for having such a productive day today?”

“Dinner?” the thought of food has Akemi’s stomach growling. The girl groaned, patting her tummy apologetically, “Yeah, food would be really good.”

Haruka nodded, “I’d love to have dinner with you two as well.”

Natsuki sprung up from his sight, fists raised to his chest, “Then let’s go!”

Akemi sprung up as well, letting out an eager, “Yeah!” Haruka stood as well, giggling. Akemi walked along with the two with a spring in her step. Not only did she have an awesome song she could work on now, she also had two new friends, from her own classroom this time, that she could talk to!

* * *

Nobu was surprised just how well this project was turning out. Working with Syo was a breeze, he was pretty vocal about what he wanted in the song and was sure to point out anything he thought felt off about Nobu’s composition. Normally, Nobu would be less than pleased at someone pointing out things they thought were flaws in his songs but it wasn’t really his song, it was more Syo’s since he was the one who’d be adding lyrics to it and singing it and the singer was usually the person who got the most credit when it came to a song in the public’s eye. That thought was the main reason he didn’t feel the need to question most of the times Syo suggested changes to the arrangement.

Once they were both satisfied with how the song sounded, Syo instantly went to work on lyrics. To his slight surprise, Syo suggested Nobu should look over the lyrics and give his input on them. While he wasn’t much of a songwriter or poet, Nobu found it nice to have a say in the lyrics that would go along to the song he did most of the work on. The lyrics were just as energetic and encouraging as Nobu had imagined they’d be, like a motivational speech in a song. He was impressed, even if he did point out a line or two that annoyed him and made a few suggestions on what could be added in. Syo took it all in stride, seeming to think over all his suggestions carefully before deciding to add them or argue against them. Well, maybe not quite argue, more like debate it over.

The oddest thing about all this was that he… was having fun with it all. Of course, he loved making songs by himself, that’s what he was used to but having someone to talk about the said song while he was making it was somewhat new, and having someone want his input on the lyrics to a song was definitely new. He liked it.

“Woo!” Syo cheered as the last notes of the backtrack played through Nobu’s speakers.

“Good work,” Nobu congratulated as Syo unscrewed his bottle top and took a large gulp of the water. Syo raised a victorious fist as he placed his bottle back down.

“We’re gonna ace this!” he grinned, opening the fist up and holding it out in front of Nobu. Nobu stared at the open palm, his mind slowly realising what the blonde was silently asking for before raising his own hand to slap against his.

Not bothered by the slow response, Syo’s grin widened. “Since we got some free time now that the song’s officially done, I think we deserve a moment to celebrate.”

“Celebrate?” 

“Y’know, do something. Sun’s still pretty high in the sky and it’s not like we got homework to do or anything.” Nobu hummed, frowning in thought. He had hoped to just stay in and maybe play a game or get a nap by some miracle above now that they were basically done, maybe touch up the song later.

“What’s this I hear?” neither one of them had noticed the door opening or Hibiki slipping into the room. “You two are done with your song? Why, you should go and make the most of this newfound freedom then!”

“That’s what we’re planning to do,” Syo grinned, placing his hands on his hips before looking expectantly at Nobu, “Right?”

Nobu let out a drawn-out exhale, “Well…”

“Sorry, but I’m gonna need the room anyway, Nobu,” Hibiki piped up. “Was gonna practice my own song in here and _was_ gonna find a way to get you out for a bit but this works out perfectly! I won’t need to die of worry at the thought of you falling asleep somewhere unattended!”

Nobu huffed. He had an inkling of an idea Hibiki just wanted him out of the room. If he really wanted to practice that bad, he’d have just found some quiet corner of the school like he had tons of times before. It’s not like he felt like asking. He guessed there was no harm in spending the day outside or whatever. With a soft groan, he got to his feet, and turned to the patiently waiting Syo, “Alright, let’s go.”

Syo gave him a firm nod, sparing Hibiki a wave as they walked out the room. Conversation didn’t start up between the two as they made their way through the dorm and outside, not like Nobu really cared. The last day of their first week here would be tomorrow, the same day their music assignment would be due. Nights were still kind of weird but at least he finally managed to catch some amount of sleep in it a night ago. Luckily, it seemed the school favoured giving students tons of time for assignments since they were given quite a bit of theory time off to really focus of this song project. Both to his fortune and misfortune, as his interest in the song’s success, kept him insomnious during the day.

“Oi,” Nobu’s eyes snapped open at the feel of a poke right in the middle of his back. He hadn’t even realised he was beginning to drift off. He looked down into the narrowed eyes of Syo.

“My bad,” he apologised, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Geez, if I knew you needed to sleep this badly I would have just left you in your room,” Syo sighed, before letting out a groan, “But your roommate’s busy, isn’t he?”

“Probably, yeah,” as much as Nobu wished he could say he could probably sleep through it, whether he had a deep or light sleep was always a gamble and he was pretty sure Hibiki wouldn’t be letting him in this soon anyway. Probably thought it was his chance at actually socialise with someone new, even if Syo couldn’t really count as new anymore.

Nobu let out a surprised grunt when something suddenly tugged him forward and forced him to walk back to the dorms. Opening his eyes again, he realised Syo had taken hold of his wrist and was pulling him along to the dorms. “Where…?”

“My room,” Syo sighed, “Natsuki’s probably out, and even if he isn’t, he probably won’t bother you when he sees the massive bags under your eyes.” Nobu absent-mindedly brought a hand to his face. Where they really that bad? He wordlessly stumbled after the blonde, half surprised at how fast he could walk. Soon, after a flight of stairs and another hallway (or was it two? He wondered if he zoned out halfway there), Syo opened a door, announcing a loud, “I’m back!”

“Welcome back, Syo-chan,” Natsuki called back from his bed, smile warm and open. He was lying against the headrest of his bed with a bunch of plushies next to him and a book in his hands. Nobu took a moment to examine the rest of the room. It was surprisingly modest compared to what he had imagined what the two boys’ room would look like. It was coloured in mostly browns and greens, making the room feel very… homey. His eyes widened when he looked over at Nobu, “And Bu-chan! I didn’t know you’d be bringing him for a visit.”

“Neither did I,” Syo admitted, closing the door behind him.

Natsuki sighed, “I could have made him something…”

Nobu wasn’t out of it enough to not notice the very visible shiver that ran through Syo. “Well isn’t that a shame,” he muttered, sarcasm oozing off every word. “Now, you,” Syo patted Nobu’s back, guiding him to his bed, “Are going to get some actual sleep.”

“On your bed?”

“What, want to share a bed with Natsuki?” Syo chuckled. “It’s not like there’s anywhere else you can catch some z’s, is there?”

“I dunno…” the whole reason he was having less sleep was because of the unfamiliarity of his room. He hardly thought this would be any different cause at least his room had some things he had brought from home. He’d probably just be hyper-aware of the new differences if anything.

“Is something wrong with Bu-chan?” Natsuki’s worried voice asked behind them.

“Yeah, he looks half dead and has nowhere else to sleep so I brought him here.”

“Half dead…? Are you having troubles sleeping, Bu-chan?” Nobu looked back at the taller boy to see him getting up from his bed.

“Yeah, guess that’s the gist of it,” he mumbled.

Natsuki nodded understandingly, before a look of firm resolve settled on his face, “I know something that’ll help!”

His head tilted slightly in question and he noticed Syo raise an eyebrow from the corner of his eye. “And… what would that happen to be?” Syo asked slowly, cautiously?

“Tea,” Natsuki announced with a smile, walking over to the other side of the room were what seemed to be a tea set and kettle lay on a table. Syo let out a sigh, his shoulders sagging in relief.

“Oh thank god,” he muttered before a grin formed on his face as he thumbed over at Natsuki, “Natsuki’s a natural at that! Anything tea-related that he makes is out of this world good!”

Nobu looked over at Natsuki, watching as he looked intently through a box of what looked like tea packets. Nobu hadn’t really been big on tea-making so barely cared much for the different types of tea and what they’re best at helping with so he couldn’t help watching semi-fascinated as Natsuki seemed to go about making a cup of tea like some sort of expert. The thought of drinking something warm did sound promising…

“Alright, here you go!” Natsuki sang, holding up a mug with green leaf patterns all over it.

“Ah, thank you,” Nobu muttered, taking hold of the mug carefully. The warmth of the ceramic was a very welcome feeling on his palms as he smelled the tea. The scent tickled his nose, it reminded him of some kind of flower. Blowing on the top lightly, he took a small sip of the liquid.

His eyes widened. “It’s good.” The tea tasted almost as flowery as it smelled, and he could catch the taste of honey mixed into it.

“I’m glad you think so,” Natsuki smiled, “I wished I could have let it steep for a bit longer but I wouldn’t want you staying up for too long.”

Nobu nodded, taking small generous sips of the drink, savouring the sweet warmth it spread through him. Faintly, he heard Natsuki offering to make Syo his own cup to which the shorter blonde eagerly agreed.

“It’d be nice if you’d be that happy to have my cooking, too, Syo-chan,” Natsuki lamented with a sigh as he poured the water into another cup.

Syo bristled, before puffing up like an angry cat, “Well if you stopped adding all those weird extra ingredients, I’d be able to eat it!”

“Weird? It makes my cooking special! You always get one-of-a-kind dishes when I make you something, straight from my heart.”

“I guess I’d rather be unadventurous then! Just make things by the book, it’s not that hard.”

“Hmm… Then cooking wouldn’t be any fun if it’s always the same…”

“Fun… good thing it’s fun for you then, cause I know you know it isn’t fun for me to try all your weird food experiments! I’d think you’re having more fun seeing me suffer from your failed experiments if anything!”

“That’s a mean accusation, Syo-chan! It’s only a matter of time until I make something you’ll like.”

“Don't smile like that! That's an dangerous- Oi, Nobu, don’t go falling asleep here!”

Nobu blinked his eyes open, attempting to raise a hand to wipe his eyes but realised he still had the mug in his hold. With no more tea in it, he placed it down on the table, mumbled a, “Thanks for the tea.”

Natsuki took the mug, flashing Nobu a smile, “It’s my pleasure.”

“Alright, now that you’re done with that,” Syo pointed over to his bed, “Sleep.”

“I feel like a kid being sent to bed,” Nobu grumbled but still got to his feet and walked over to the green bed. Maybe he should have been a little bit more hesitant about sleeping on the bed of someone who he considered just barely above an acquaintance but he couldn’t find it in him to care. The thought of attempting to sleep sounded much too inviting to pass up on the offer.

Nobu awoke to someone shaking his shoulder. He tried to move away from the hand but it kept its grip on him tight. He groaned, grumbling, “I’m up, I’m up…”

“Well, then get up, or else you’re gonna miss the chance to get dinner.” Nobu’s eyebrows furrowed. Was that Syo? Why was Syo here? He reluctantly blinked his eyes open, pushing himself up into a sitting position. Syo stood beside his bed with his hands on his hips. For a moment, he looked a lot like he was about to nag at him but a grin formed on his face once Nobu seemed semi-awake. “Mornin’! You were really out like a light these last few hours.”

“Hours?”

“But like I said, the cafeteria’s about to close in an hour so thought it was about time you woke up.”

Nobu’s mind slowly brought back the memories from the afternoon. Right, he had fallen asleep in Natsuki and Syo’s room. He’d been asleep for hours? That was definitely a first. His naps never lasted this long, when he could catch one intentionally. Sure, he was a little groggy but he definitely felt a ton more awake than he did this afternoon.

“Slept well?” Syo asked as Nobu got to his feet.

Nobu considered it and gave him a nod, “Yeah, I did. Thanks for,” Nobu gestured to the bed, “That.”

Syo let out a hearty laugh, pressing his hand against his back and leading him to the door of the room, “No problem! Just glad you don’t look like your half dead anymore! Well, as half-dead anyway.”

The words oddly reminded him of Hibiki and he couldn’t help the huff he let out, “Thanks. Feel like it, too.”

Syo snorted. Nobu faintly took note of the fact that Natsuki wasn’t in the room anymore as Syo opened the door and escorted him out of the room. Seeing the hallway lights on as opposed to the natural light of the daytime made him further realise that he had been napping away for several hours.

“Since we missed the chance today, let’s have that celebratory day out some other time,” Syo suggested with a grin.

Nobu nodded. He didn’t mind the fact that they didn’t go out but maybe he could pay him back for today. Maybe also find a way to pay Natsuki back at another point in time, “Yeah, sure.”

* * *

The day of the recording test felt like it had taken forever yet couldn’t come fast enough for Akemi. Getting to hear Natsuki singing the lyrics to their (their!) song for the first time had been incredible! His voice felt like honey for her ears, smooth and soothing, and topped with the up-beat backing of the track left her feeling giddy and jittery like she just had a few too many candies and she loved it! Even if the whole school couldn’t listen to their song, at the very least, at least the people waiting in the waiting room outside the recording room could hear it and the thought filled her with proud excitement.

With how long the recording even would take, no classes would be held today and essentially giving everyone a chance to spend as much time as they want to prepare or listen in on the recording sessions of the other idols. Akemi definitely did not mind this schedule change, mostly because she was curious about all the different songs that would be sung but partly because the thought of not sitting through a boring theory class sounded wonderful.

“Natsu-kun!”

“Michan!” Akemi ran up to the giant, spotting him on their way to their recording room. She was half surprised to find him looking relatively calm while she felt she could pop from the pepped-up energy running all through her. She had been so excited at seeing the spectacle-wearing boy, she almost missed the three other boys he was walking with.

“You seem quite revved up there, Michan.” Akemi’s head whipped around to look at the source of the voice and another grin formed on her face, widening when she realised who else was in their group.

“Hibi-kun! Syo-kun and Bu-kun, too! Hi!” she waved enthusiastically to all the boys.

“Yo,” Syo greeted back with a two-finger salute and Nobu gave her a just barely noticeable smile and wave.

“Are you all excited? Cause I’m super excited! I can’t wait to hear Natsu-kun singing today! And Syo-kun and Hibi-kun! I’ll be sure to cheer you all on really hard, oh, but like quiet enough to not bother your singing or anything, of course! I don’t want to have to make you rerecord anything cause I was too loud but aren’t the recording rooms soundproof? Still, I-“ a hand landing on her shoulder made her pause.

“Breathe, Michan, breathe,” Hibiki chuckled. Akemi blinked before realising she had been rambling.

“Ah! Sorry! I just feel all buzzy and-and giddy to see everyone singing and hear their songs and-” Hibiki patted her shoulder again, making the girl quickly quieten with another, “Sorry.”

Syo laughed, waving the apology off, “Don’t worry about it, we get it. I’m pretty geared up myself!” He put up his fist, patting Nobu on the shoulder with his other hand, “I think me and Nobu did a pretty dang fantastic job on our song and I can’t wait to perform it.”

“And I think me and Yumi-chan’s song is going to be nothing less than perfection,” Hibiki hummed, hand on his chest. “But I am looking forward to listening in on all your songs as well.”

“Me, too!” Natsuki beamed, “I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this excited in a long time! I’m going to sing with everything I have today to show just how much Michan and I put into our song.”

“You’ll be amazing, Natsu-kun!” Akemi cheered, giving the boy two thumbs up before remembering their company and turning to the others, “You’ll all be super amazing!” The boys laughed and accepted the well wishes with thanks. They made a bit more talk as they walk to the recording room. The hallway was filled with students. The school had multiple recording rooms and from what she could gather, who would be using which rooms was chosen randomly and not restricted to classes. Unfortunately, the others were put into different recording rooms so she wouldn’t be able to see their performances, unless they managed to make it to one after their own session.

Entering their waiting room, Akemi could recognise a handful of people from their class but most people were from the school’s other classes. The screen above the entryway to the recording room was off so they hadn’t seemed to have started yet. She led Natsuki to a seat, insisting he sit and rest. Akemi felt too high strung to take a seat so opted for standing beside the boy instead. Despite what he said before about being excited, he still seemed relaxed, his eyes closed as his fingers tapped lightly against the flask in his hold. She wondered if she could be this calm before having to sing. She highly doubted it. Maybe he was meditating? She didn’t want to bother him if it was his prerecording ritual or something.

Soon, the screen lit up and the sight of a student in the recording studio filled the screen. After barely a beat of silence, music streamed through the room followed shortly by the student’s singing. Akemi could easily admit that they were good, the song was good, finding herself swaying slightly in time to the beat. The songs were a pretty good distraction, her curiosity of how good her fellow students were pushing down most of her giddiness, with Natsuki’s calm demeanor only further helping that. She wasn’t worried, well, okay maybe a tiny bit, but only for the chance of a super weird malfunction happening like bad feedback or the power going out.

Natsuki’s turn came soon enough, the blonde opening his eyes slowly before getting to his feet. Akemi followed him into the recording room, two teachers as well as the person in charge of the recording equipment expecting them. Akemi took a moment to admire how professional the room looked before turning to Natsuki. She shot him another double thumbs up which he returned with his own, smiling brightly as he entered the recording booth.

The familiar sound of the backing track filled the room. Anticipation filled Akemi as she watched Natsuki’s mouth open, the lyrics she’s heard dozens of times by now slipping seamlessly from his lips.

_“A wise man once said, “In life, there is both joy and pain…  
Softly, gently, let’s cast our prayers into the sky  
As we count down, let’s jump at the magic word!”_

She found herself mouthing the words, her eyes closing as she took in the song as best she could. Despite having heard the song so many times by now, the same fluffy feeling she felt the first time she heard him sing filled her again, making her feel weightless. Just as he promised, Natsuki definitely sang with everything he had, each word clearer, smoother and even more beautiful than any practise they had before. Akemi almost felt like crying from how well this was going, and if anyone were to point out the tearing up in her eyes, she’d adamantly point out that she hadn’t shed a single tear so it didn’t count.

The moment Natsuki stepped foot outside of the recording booth, Akemi tackled him into a hug with happy giggles. Or, attempted to. Natsuki barely flinched at the hug, more from the suddenness of it than the force behind it. He was quick to brighten and return it, with a beaming smile.

“You did amazing, Natsu-kun! Like absolutely, amazing!” Akemi praised, giving the tall blonde a tight squeeze before she let him go. “Your voice was like… like an angel’s! A musical angel!”

Natsuki giggled, “An angel? Thank you, Michan!” The two thanked the teachers there for their time before leaving the room. “I’m glad we got to make the song together, it’s so much fun to sing it!” Akemi nodded frantically, knowing how fun it was to sing, even if she wasn’t very vocally talented herself. “Now, how about we look around to try to find anyone else who’s done?”

“Yeah!”

The two made their way to the nearest recording room, realising that most A class students seemed to have been placed in this room, though they couldn’t find Haruka or Otoya but Tomochika gave them a cheerful wave, her assigned parter, Yajima, sitting in the seat next to her. A few seats down, Masato sat with a small stack of papers that Akemi guessed was the score of his song. Despite being friends with Natsuki and Haruka, Akemi hadn’t really had the chance to talk to the other students in class A with how focus she and Natsuki had been on this assignment. Maybe this could be her chance to get to know them a bit more now that they were going to have a little break!

“Tomo-chan!” Natsuki called as he walked over to the long-haired idol, “Have you had a chance to sing yet?”

“Yep! It went like a dream,” Tomochika sighed happily. “I’m guessing you sang already, too?”

Natsuki nodded, “Yes! Me and Michan are currently just looking at any other performances we can catch.”

“I see,” Tomochika nodded. Her gaze moved from Natsuki to Akemi, “Speaking of, I don’t think we’ve had a chance to properly meet, right?”

“Right!” Akemi chirped.

“My name is Shibuya Tomochika.”

“My name is Fukuyo Akemi! But you can call me Akemi, or Ake-chan or Michan! It’s nice to meet you!”

“Well, in that case, call me Tomo-chan! It’s nice to meet you, too, Ake-chan.” Akemi nodded happily. “If we’re going to be watching people’s songs, might as well watch Masato’s recording. He hasn’t gone yet.”

Having heard his name, the bluenette glanced up from his papers to look over at the small group. “Good luck, Masato-kun!” Natsuki called, Tomochika and Akemi gave him a wave and thumbs up respectively. Masato blinked, his expression not changing from its neutrality but gave them a nod of acknowledgment before turning his attention back to his score.

“I think that would be a wonderful idea,” Natsuki hummed, replying to Tomochika’s proposal.

“Then take a seat, you two! Can I me take a look at your score since I didn’t get the chance to hear your song?”

“Of course, if it’s alright to see yours.”

Getting to talk to Tomochika was a lot of fun, she was nice and easy to get along with. It was a bit of a bummer that they missed her song but her disappointment was alleviated just a bit at getting to hear Masato’s singing. The song was more fast-paced than she had expected but it seemed to suit his singing just wonderfully none the less, she even found herself swaying in time to the music. In what felt like no time at all, Masato exited the room, the picture of cool and calm.

“That was wonderful,” Natsuki praised him once he had finished a short conversation with the composer he was working with, most probably thanking him for his time.

“You were on fire,” Tomochika agreed.

“You were reeaally amazing!” Ameki added eagerly. Masato was silent for a moment, his gaze moving over all their faces before he gave them a small bow.

“Thank you very much,” he said curtly, “Though, I must admit, my vocals weren’t at top form today.” Akemi’s mouth gaped, that wasn’t his top form?! She looked up to see the other idol’s expressions only to notice they were looking at him with understanding in their eyes. Her eyebrows furrowed. He sounded absolutely fine to her, it didn’t seem like he messed anything up… Maybe it was something people who trained to sing could catch?

Tomochika suggested that they try finding Haruka and Otoya’s recording room now that they had seen Masato, and quickly filled the bluenette in on their current mission. Natsuki and Akemi were completely for the idea and Masato decided to accompany them since he was interested as well and had nothing too important he to attend to today. After Tomochika waved goodbye to her partner, the now group of four made their way through the halls to their next destination.

The next recording room they found had a distinct lack of Haruka or Otoya but the sight of Syo walking towards the recording room cheered up Akemi from the short moment of disappointment. “Good luck, Syo-kun!” Akemi called. Syo turned around, his eyes widening when he spotted the small group of class A students.

“Do your best, Syo-chan!” Natsuki chimed in. Syo gave them both a bright grin, flicking the tip of his hat up before entering the recording room.

“You know him?” Tomochika asked, looking between Natsuki and Akemi.

“Yeah! We’re friends,” Akemi replied, Natsuki nodding in agreement. “So, can we stay to see him sing?”

Tomochika shrugged with a smile, “Well, why not? It’s not like we’re pressed for time or anything.”

The group looked over at the stoic Masato expectantly. “Wasting any opportunity to widen one’s horizons would be unwise.”

“Is that a yes?” Akemi whispered at Tomochika.

“In Masato speak, I think so,” she answered with a wink. Akemi nodded, looking up at the screen as it turned on again. She wondered what type of music Nobu composed and she was super glad she had the chance to listen to it, with Syo singing it as well!

_“Ah…! Looking up at the sky, the dazzling sunshine  
The best life is in the dream!  
Saying this or that, but  
You only live once! Go! Go! Go! Go! It’s paradise!”_

The electronic beat of the song had her feet tapping pretty quickly. The song made her feel really powered, topped with Syo’s really energetic voice, it made her feel like she was listening to a song from a motivational video or a workout routine. The lyrics only really pushed the thought further in her head. She really had to push down the urge to dance to the song and had to settle for bobbing her head to the beat.

The moment Syo left the room, he found himself wrapped in a hug but the culprit being Natsuki this time. “That was amazing, Syo-chan!”

Syo squawked, pushing against the taller boy’s arms until he let him down again. The two walked over to the group, a familiar mop of curly black hair following behind them.

Akemi blinked in surprise, realising she had momentarily forgotten that Nobu would be here there but silently berated herself for not thinking that with Syo being here, of course Nobu would be here, too. He was grinning, the expression looking so weird on the composer’s face to Akemi but not in any way bad.

Akemi waved at them to catch their attention, “Syo-kun! You were super with your singing! And, the song made me feel all bouncy and excited!”

“Yeah, you were on fire,” Tomochika piped up from behind Akemi.

Syo’s grin widened as he placed his hands on his hips, “Thank you!” he nodded, “Glad you liked it!” Nobu nodded as well, grin lowering but the smile that was still on his face felt like it portrayed how delighted he felt. “So, all of you done with your recordings?”

Natsuki nodded, “Yes. We’re all adventuring around the school and watching everyone else at the moment.”

Syo’s eyes sparkled, “Oh, sounds fun!”

“Want to tag along with us? Syo-kun? Bu-kun?” Akemi asked excitedly. Nobu’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t expected to be invited along but Syo brightened at the invitation.

“Sure! Not like we had anything to wait up for here,” Syo admitted.

Nobu shrugged, “Okay.” With that simple agreement, the group left again, Tomochika introducing herself to Syo properly as well as Nobu, Masato doing the same thought with much less visible enthusiasm as the redhead. As they neared the next recording room, Natsuki almost pumped into the person exiting the room.

“Ah, sorry,” he apologized. Akemi widened when she laid eyes on someone that looked an awful lot like Hayato. Her first thought had been what on earth was Hayato doing at Saotome Academy? Wasn’t he with a different company not affiliated with Shining Agency? The next had been why did he look so… serious? She was used to him beaming so widely, it looked like it kinda hurt so to see someone that looked so much like him look so stern was odd.

Not-Hayato apologized briefly as well before slipping past the group and walking away. “He really does look like Hayato, doesn’t he?” Tomochika spoke up, crossing her arms as she watched Not-Hayato walk away, “Twins really are something, aren’t they?”

“Twins?” Akemi asked curiously.

“Yeah. Apparently, he’s Hayato’s twin brother, Ichinose Tokiya.” Akemi’s eyes widened. She had no idea he had a brother, well, not like she knew much about the idol anyway.

“Otoya-kun is singing!” Natsuki’s announcement caught her, and the rest of class A’s in their group’s attention. They quickly entered the room. Otoya was indeed on the screen, singing what sounded like a chorus of the song he and Haruka had composed. The song felt refreshing and cheerful. Akemi wished they had made it to hear the full song through. When Otoya and Haruka left the recording room, both their face shared the same momentary surprise.

“Haruka, Otoya,” Tomochika called cheerfully, making her way to the composer and idol-in-training.

“Tomo-chan, everyone…? What are you all doing here?” Haruka asked, Otoya’s furrowed confused eyebrows asking the same question.

“We came to see you, of course!” Natsuki replied simply. While Haruka looked even more stupefied, Otoya’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the admission.

“Really?”

Akemi nodded, “Yeah! We wanted to hear your song! And it was awesome!”

Natsuki nodded happily, “Mm, mm! It was a wonderful song!”

“Great work, you two!” Tomochika added, giving Haruka a firm hug. A smile finally made its way onto the composer’s face.

“Thank you,” Haruka giggled.

“Thanks, everyone!” Otoya beamed smile as bright as the sun.

“Are there any more recording rooms around here?” Syo asked.

“This is the last one being used for today’s assignment recordings,” Masato responded. Akemi frowned. She hadn’t had the chance to hear Suzu or Hibiki singing. She wondered if she’d get the chance to hear them at a later date. Still, she got to hear quite a few people singing already so it wasn’t a complete loss. When the announcement came through the speakers that a short break would be had, Syo suggested that since they were all done, they could hang out together for a bit.

“I mean, I think we deserve the chance the enjoy ourselves a little at how awesome we were today!” With the group in unanimous agreement at the suggestion, they made their way to the cafeteria, Akemi getting the chance to introduce herself properly to Otoya, and Syo and Nobu getting acquainted with the A class students even better. Akemi felt her grin widen even further, the lively atmosphere of the group around her making her feel light and very happy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who's curious, here's the songs the idols sang!  
> Natsuki: YELL  
> Syo: CHALLENGE  
> Masato: Most FORTISSIMO
> 
> I actually looked for songs with the least romantic lyrics I could find and Syo and Natsuki's 2nd maji love 2000 solos fit the bill best so they ended up as the main starish boys here. Decided to use MF for Masa since it was just available.  
> I want to try avoiding using songs that the boys sang in the anime whenever they have to sing a song but with so many other solos or other songs, I don't think it'll be that hard.  
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Hopefully, the next chapter will be out soon so stay tuned!

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my Fic! I only really wrote this cause composers are like no where in the utapri universe so wanted to add some to lighten Nanami's load. Girl's writing songs for 11 people, let someone else write a song or two for crying out loud, or at least, let us see them!  
> On the topic of romantic relationships, I'm still on the fence on them. Maybe if y'all want one I might add it in but right now, there is none.


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